Boehner, Pelosi told to get cracking on postal reform

By SCOTT WONG

05/01/2012 11:44 AM EDT

Democratic and Republican lawmakers who guided the postal reform bill through the Senate last week are calling on House leaders to “act promptly” to pass their legislation so the two bills can be reconciled before a looming May 15 deadline. That’s when the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is set to begin closing potentially thousands of rural post offices and other retail sites and hundreds of processing centers.

In a letter obtained by Huddle, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), along with panel members Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.), wrote to Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, warning that action is needed to “prevent the unnecessary wholesale closing of regional mail facilities and local post offices, and save this iconic institution that delivers over 500 million pieces of mail a day and sustains over 8 million jobs.”

“We fear that the resulting degradation of mail service will further drive away postal customers, only hastening the loss of postal revenue, the accelerating contraction of mail processing and mail-related industry, and further loss of associated jobs,” the senators wrote. Carper unveiled a countdown clock this morning warning the days “until USPS facilities shut down.”